As Executive Leadership Coaches, one of the key reasons our clients come to us is to help them grow their leaders, so they can grow their business faster.

Every time a CEO tells me they want to grow their business, I ask myself – is this company ready for growth? Many companies get too narrowly focused on the concept of bigger is better, but fail to see gaps in their development that will impede sustainable long-term growth.

 

Development and Growth are two different things:

• Development means to increase the capacity of something, therefore creating what was previously not possible.
• Growth means to add something to your company, such as more staff, clients, sales, equipment, products, and locations to expand what you’re already doing.

At Awesome Journey, we believe that for an Executive Leadership Team to create sustainable growth in their business, they must first start with Development of Key Assets and a 3-year plan that focuses on the key assets of your business including your people, your products, your systems/processes, and your culture.

 

Key Assets:

1. People:

Develop language that is generative vs descriptive. Generative language is action-oriented with clear requests and promises that lead to clear agreements.

2. Time needs to be Reliably in Existence:

Putting your day’s activities and tasks into your calendar so time is automatically allocated to priorities. Remove the idea of “not enough time”.

3. Reality that is Grounded in Facts vs Opinion:

Quality leaders are disciplined to listen for pure facts vs perceptions, interpretations or opinions. An opinion is an expression of a person’s feelings vs facts is a statement that can be proven right or wrong.

As leaders embrace both horizontal learning development (acquiring and experiencing new knowledge) and vertical learning development (increase awareness so you can shift your language from descriptive to generative), they can create new action, outcomes, and possibilities that will now emerge because of the leadership development.

In the “Future Trends in Leadership Development” article by Nick Petri, the author speaks to why Vertical Development is necessary for business and how it makes an organization immune to the trials and tribulations of change in the marketplace.

What I like most about this article is how the author talks about 3 distinct mindsets that a leader will evolve through as part of their own leadership development journey:

• Dependent Conformer
• Independent Achiever
• Interdependent Collaborator

4. Products:

Increase functionality, which will give your organization a larger capacity to support clients’ requests.

5. Systems/Processes:

Increase the level of workability to improve efficiency and the ease in which people do their work. As workability increases, people become more productive and happier, and clients find it enjoyable and easy to buy from your organization.

6. Culture:

A High-Performance culture is formed when everyone in the company is having intentional conversations that are aligned to the core values and the mission statement.

When your organization is intentional about developing your core assets – people, products, processes and culture, your company will be able to deliver excellence consistently, and the company will become attractive and in demand in the marketplace.

Now that you have a solid foundation you can focus on growing your business.

An excellent growth model to use as a framework is the Greiner Growth Model which speaks to the natural evolution of a business that is growing and where the tensions points are that can cause disruption.

Most companies begin at Phase 1 where the group is small and informal, and the organizational structure is flat. Typically, the entrepreneur invests heavily in acquiring new clients to build the business.

Phase 2 is where development comes into play. As more clients come on-board, the organization sees the need to hire more people for support, and with more people comes the need to standardize and create processes and structures to manage the business and maintain alignment throughout the organization. This phase is where you build the foundation of the company.

When a company intentionally or unintentionally goes into growth mode before they have developed a foundation through their keys assets (people, products, systems and processes, culture), the business will suffer as cracks begin to show as previous band-aid solutions come apart and there is a lack of coordinated action and communication because the organization is not set up to function at a higher capacity.

 

How do you know you are ready for Growth?

• High workability in your organization (tried and tested processes, systems, practices, and principles)
• Right people in the right seats (people have the skills, knowledge, competency needed to do their job well)
• Financially stable and profitable (organization can afford the expenses that come with growth)
• Clear on expertise and differentiation factor in the marketplace
• Clear vision and solid growth plan (actual plan vs just saying you want to grow)

 

Leadership Weekly Challenge

Slow down.

Do a deep and honest assessment of where in your company is in terms of developing core assets so that a future growth plan will be set up for success.

As a leader, you have no shortage of opportunities that cross your path. This is both a blessing and a curse, as most leaders say “yes” too often because they don’t want to miss out on an opportunity. This mindset of saying yes to everything is killing leaders and stopping them from becoming great, because you can’t do everything well.

To be a Great Leader, you must have FOCUS!

Mental Focus is key to great leadership. To build Mental Focus, leaders must create practices, support structures, and accountabilities to fuel their capabilities.

 

Become a Master of Being Mentally Focused:

Component One: Practices

“Quality of Attention” to improve mental focus comes through practices like Meditation/Breathing, Visualization, Self-Reflection, Power of the Pause (managing your emotions when you get emotionally triggered), Journaling, and Acknowledging your accomplishments.

Component Two: Support Structures

• People – who in your network is supporting you in keeping you mentally focused on executing on your top priorities?
• Systems/Processes – do you have a time management system that keeps you mentally focused on executing on your top priorities? For example, if one of your top priorities in a week is to have 90 minutes of self-reflection time, is this time scheduled in your calendar?
• Practices – daily practices to support your ability to strengthen your “Quality of Attention” to be mentally focused when you need to be.
• Tools – tools such as templates, checklists, and processes are all great for automating certain things in your life so you can focus on more important tasks at hand.

 Component Three: Accountabilities

Accountability starts with your “ability to count” and “account” for the choices you have made.

How disciplined are you at “counting” in your life? Do you count steps in a day, calories consumed, balance in your financial accounts, hours in the day, or time spent on relationships? Counting is vital to ensuring your time, money and energy are going towards things that really matter to you, and things that you can use to create future possibilities. When you don’t count things in your life, they will have power over you; they control you rather than you controlling them.

Here are some examples of things you want to count to support your ability to maintain mental focus vs spending your valuable time in mental worry (which doesn’t serve you or your future):

• Your top priorities
• Meditating/deep breathing
• Looking for things that have been misplaced
• Accomplishments – day/week/month/year
• Counting how many times in a day you get Emotionally Triggered from conversations
• Counting/aware of what you allow into your mind – What you read, What you listen to, What you watch, What you talk about, Who you spend time with

All leaders have the same 24 hours in a day to create. The difference between Great Leaders and Good Leaders is how they are able to focus their time on executing their top priorities and creating new possibilities.

 “Always remember your focus determines your reality” – George Lucas

 

Your Weekly Leadership Challenge:

If you want to improve your “Quality of Attention” to support your ability to be able to Mentally Focus when you need to, then step back and evaluate the three cornerstones of Mental Focus – Practices, Support Structures and Accountabilities and do a quality self-assessment to see what is missing for you to improve your “Mental Focus”!

As an Executive Leadership Coach for the last 17 years, a common question I get asked is, “What is the key barrier that limits a CEO from being great?”

Many CEO’s are good, but there is a fundamental difference between good and great. This fundamental difference is “Self-Awareness”.

What do I mean by “Self-Awareness”? “Self-Awareness” is all about your ability to make conscious choices that allow you to create abundance for yourself and with others consistently.

6 Areas of Self-Awareness

Stuck vs Action

Most people don’t know when they are stuck. When you lack self-awareness, you are unable to see beyond your issues, concerns, problems, worries or counterproductive behavior. There tends to be a lack of accountability and a struggle with making quality decisions. This “stuck” cycle leads to key deadlines and opportunities being missed, and overall poor results.

• How do you know when you are stuck?
• How do you go from being stuck back into action?

Support

Most CEO’s and C-Suite Leaders think being vulnerable (being open to asking for support or help) will cause them to look weak or incompetent. Because of this mindset, many CEO’s become and stay stuck, and avoid important decisions or make poor decisions.

Vulnerability actually equals power, which means being open to support gives you more power.

• When was the last time you asked for support to get un-stuck?
• Who is in your support network?
• How is your support network holding you accountable to your promises?

Gifts of Greatness

Great CEO’s and C-Suite Leaders play a big game in business which means they are constantly seeking out new ideas that can bring “Game Changing Value” to their organizations.

This commitment shows a high level of self-awareness. They are “Self-Aware” of their Gifts of Greatness that support them in finding “Game Changing Ideas”.

However, when stress and fear come into play, high-level executives often forget their Gifts of Greatness and focus on their weaknesses which then impacts their performance.

• What are your top 5 Gifts of Greatness that make you a great leader to your organization?
• How can you utilize your Gifts of Greatness to overcome moments of stress and fear?

Presence

Are you aware of your presence on others? Many CEO’s are not.

When a CEO or other leader becomes irate or aggressive in a leadership meeting, how does that affect the room? The room likely becomes tense and silent, and everyone stops sharing their ideas hoping to remove the discomfort. Many CEO’s and C-Suite Leaders often comment that they feel alone a lot. This sense of isolation may be due to your presence and how it is currently affecting your support team around you.

To improve your Presence so that you can impact the room in positive ways think about:

• What makes you attractive to others?
• Collect any feedback from your staff that speaks to your presence impacting your staff in positive ways.

Quality of Attention

Distractions are one of the key factors that impact the performance of CEO’s and C-Suite leaders. Great leaders can stay focused on the task at hand and block out distractions because they have developed a set of practices (meditation, exercise, etc.) to support their “Quality of Attention”.

What are your practices to improve the quality of your attention?

When you are distracted what is your practice to get yourself re-focused in the moment?

Stress/Fear Management

Risks and uncertainty are part of a CEO’s daily life. CEO’s must move past fear to move their organizations forward. Embracing the unknown can cause substantial stress and fear to show up in self-talk and behaviours.

It is critical to develop “Self-Awareness” around how to manage fear and stress by asking yourself these questions:

• What causes you to become “Emotionally Triggered?”
• What are three practices that keep you grounded when stress and fear are present?

 

Here are two on-the-court examples of CEO’s who are struggling with Self-Awareness and how it is impacting their ability to lead others.

 

Travis Kalanick (currently on leave of absence, CEO of Uber)

Prior to his leave of absence from Uber, Travis was struggling with his Self-Awareness:

Lack of Presence:

Getting angry with an Uber driver on camera with little thought to the consequences of his actions.

Lack of Practices to support him when he is stuck. Rather than lashing out in anger and frustration when he was stressed, he could practice “Living by the Power of the Pause” whereby he would breathe deeply for 10 breaths and ask himself – Is this a “Threat or an Opportunity”

Support:

Not knowing who his support network is and who to reach out to for support to share his fears and challenges as a young CEO who is building a rapidly growing global company.

 

Tiger Woods (CEO of the TGR & Tiger Woods Foundation)

Tiger recently made a poor choice that put him in a bad place with the law and in the public eye. To me Tiger is lacking a level of “Self-Awareness” in the following areas:

Support:

Tiger seems to be resisting the support of others while he is going through a rough time. As a high profile public figure, any incidents in the public arena will plunge him into the spotlight. With his level of financial resources, Tiger can enlist a full-time driver to support him as he manages his physical conditions and medicinal needs. Tiger struggles with relinquishing control and letting people in to support him.

Stuck:

Tiger is clearly unaware of that he is “Stuck”, and he is allowing his negative self-talk of “I can handle this myself” to take over, and it is not working.

I really love what Jack Nicklaus said the other night in an interview,

“I feel bad for Tiger. Tiger’s a friend. He’s been great for the game of golf. He needs our help. I wish him well. I hope he gets out of this dark place to play golf again. He needs a lot of support from a lot of people and I’ll be one of them.”

 There is a great leader who is “Self-Aware” of his power to create abundance for himself and for others!

Here are a few articles that speak to Supporting Leaders:

How Great Leaders Support Others

How Great Leaders Face Their Issues

What is Real Support to a C-Suite Leader?

 

Your Weekly Leadership Challenge:

Ask 5 of your trusted colleagues and friends for feedback about what they see is your “Blind Spot”. Then take that valuable information to support you in becoming more “Self-Aware” so you can create abundance for yourself and for others.

Or contact me directly at 1-403-710-2765 and I will support you in creating clarity as to what your Blind Spot is so you can become more “Self-Aware” of your power to create abundance for yourself and for others.

“What is Courage?”

This is a question I have been pondering and my thoughts are:

“Courage is when a person is willing to take a risk and leave their comfort zone to honor their commitment. When their “why” or their “personal mission statement” becomes more important than being afraid, therefore they take action.”

Rosa Parks was a courageous leader who was also a Catalyst for Change (creativity, commitment, courage) whose actions led to significant change in the global consciousness around Civil Rights & Racial Equality.

On December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama she made a conscious choice to sit in a seat on her local bus that was assigned for “white” people only. As a Catalyst for Change, she used her creativity to see a new possibility where others only saw “status quo” and changed her behaviour to foster a new conversation.

Her creativity enabled her to see a new possibility, and she honoured her commitment of “I am a Human Being who deserves to be treated equally with all other Human Beings”.

I believe that her clarity to live in her commitment (being treated equally) was the trigger for her to have the courage to act and sit in a “white” seat and have a courageous conversation with the Bus Driver who told her she had to move and she said, “No, I have every right to sit in this seat!” The Bus Driver then proceeded to have her removed from the bus and arrested. From her commitment, she became a “Catalyst for Change”, and changed history around the global conversation of Civil Rights and Racial Equality.

Rosa Parks was a courageous leader who took her inner strength and deep commitment to being treated equally and she stood up for Civil Rights and Racial Equality.

As an Executive Leadership Coach, I am very interested in how to unlock the power of courage, because, for me, people who can tap into courage can use their “Courageous Voice” to be “Catalysts for Change”. When people are self-aware of how to tap into their “Courageous Voice” amazing transformations occur.

 

Your Leadership Challenge for this week is:

I would love to hear your definition of courage, and any experiences you’ve had or know of that support your definition.

You can email me here, I looking forward to hearing from you!

Three weeks ago, my wife and I went to New York City for business and pleasure. I found the trip very eye opening. Everywhere I turned I found people being what I called Catalysts for Change – seeing a future possibility and turning it into a reality.

Whether is was the American Museum of Modern History, the Brooklyn Bridge, or the new construction in Hudson Yards – I saw people being Catalysts for Change.

 

Ways of Being a “Catalyst for Change”:

1. Creative – where others see a problem(s), the Catalyst for Change sees a possibility to bring something new into existence
2. Commitment – a Catalyst for Change will take a stand with a commitment to make a difference for good and they are willing to commit time to bringing a possibility to reality
3. Courage – a Catalyst for Change will find the courage to step into the unknown and use their voice in generative ways (action-oriented) to turn their idea (their possibility) into action by enrolling others into their possibility to make it a reality.

While in NYC, my wife and I walked the “High Line” in Chelsea (neighbourhood in lower Manhattan). The “High Line” is an abandoned elevated rail line that runs from lower Manhattan into the meat packing district.

In 1999, the city and many local people became tired of this rusted out abandoned rail line running through their neighbourhood. They wanted this eye-sore metal structure demolished so they could re-purpose the land.

Then 3 “Catalysts for Change” stepped in and transformed history in Chelsea.

First Peter Obletz a resident of Chelsea challenged the demolition efforts in the court and won to save the elevated rail line.

Then two architects (Joshua David & Robert Hammond) heard about what Peter Obletz was doing and they saw a new possibility for the abandoned elevated rail line; they saw the possibility of a beautiful park filled with indigenous plants and trees of the area.

From the initial efforts of these three “Catalysts for Change”, today there is a beautiful walking park in Chelsea that is free for all to walk the High Line and to enjoy its beauty. This is a fascinating story of how three people chose to see a future possibility and make a difference for the good of their neighbourhood.

Friends of the High Line 

Enrolling the Naysayers in Future Possibilities

How do you enroll naysayers to see a vision and want to take an action?

1. Design Generative Conversations
2. Intentional About Speaking into Another Person’s Listening
3. Courageous Enough to Stand Alone for What You Believe is the Right Thing to do

When designing a Generative Conversation (action-oriented), you want to be intentional about speaking into another person’s listening (what they care about) and create a dialogue conversation to transform your possibility into reality (courage to take a stand).

 

Your Leadership Challenge:

Be a Catalyst for Change by being a designer of a generative question that shifts others’ perspective to your possibility. The question must speak into a person’s or a group of peoples’ listening such that a conversation occurs that creates new possibilities for your idea.

Clients vs. Customers

Customers are people and companies that we have transactional interactions with.

Clients are people and companies that we connect with and build a relationship with so we can provide Extraordinary Service.

Great companies that achieve long-term success have well-documented Client Service Strategies and a standard of excellence and expectation that each member of the team is expected to follow to ensure Extraordinary Service.

Client Service Strategies come from Moments of Truth which are the elements that make up the client service experience. Retailers and Hospitality companies try to emulate it in each of their locations by using a Master or Gold standard checklist to ensure consistency and high standards are maintained. Marriot Hotels and Starbucks are two companies that follow checklists to ensure quality control. 

Seven Moments of Truth for offering Extraordinary Service

1. The Greeting
2. Collecting Information (asking questions)
3. Storytelling – paint an awesome picture
4. Delivery – what they expect
5. The Goodbye/ Thank you
6. The Follow-up
7. The Recovery (if needed)

Let’s take a closer look at the first 3:

The Greeting

The greeting is your first point of contact. I recently did a client service seminar for a retail company and asked them how long a client should wait to be served. They all agreed on 10 seconds. So, I had them sit in silence for 10 excruciating seconds, and after the exercise they agreed that even 5 seconds was too long. 10 seconds felt like 10 minutes when waiting.

Clients expect to be acknowledged and greeted in a timely and polite manner. Customers don’t. Customers are seeking a quick and easy transaction. Visit your local Walmart or grocery store for examples of what Transactional Customer Service looks like.

Collecting Information

More and more companies are now seeing that collecting information is so critical to connecting and understanding their clients. At Lowes, they want your email and postal code, at Starbucks they want your name, spelled correctly or not, so they can call you by your first name and not by your drink.  Collecting information like names, reasons for visit, and what people like or don’t like allows the company to connect with their clients, and makes the interaction more about the client and less about the offering being sold. Clients love this.

Story Telling

Once we have collected the information, we now have the ability to paint an attractive picture or create a desirable offer for the client based on what they have told us they like, want, need and desire. Without information, we can still paint a picture or make an offer, but the offer then becomes more about us and less about them because we’re presuming to understand what they want rather than knowing.

Look at your business. Do you have a Client Service Strategy around all 7 Moment of Truth? Can everyone, everywhere get the same Extraordinary service from anyone in your organization? With the rapid expansion of e-commerce and on-line shops, converting customers into clients is critical.

What is quality support? How do you learn the most effective way to support others?

As CEO of Awesome Journey, Eric Crowell supports a team and has worked with thousands of business leaders to support leadership development. Understanding how to effectively support and empower people is critical to leadership development.

Throughout Eric’s career, he has learned that everyone has different ways in which they want to be supported. The way in which you offer support is just as critical as the support you are offering. Have you ever thought you were supporting someone but ended up angering or irritating them?

For example, a colleague has an important presentation to the board in a week, you offer your support by way of challenging them about the approach they are taking to deliver it and they get defensive = BREAKDOWN! What happened? You thought you were offering support to your colleague by providing insights and options to enhance their presentation and make them look great in front of the board, but your colleague perceived your support as threatening to their skills and competence. It is important to consider the way you approach supporting others to ensure it is well received.

Before offering support, you need to listen to people and make clear requests about how they would like to be supported.

9 Ways to Support Others:

1. Listen to others without judgment
2. Give your time
3. Give quality feedback
4. Offer to do tasks or projects
5. Hold another person accountable for a promise they made
6. Challenge another person or make an unreasonable request of them
7. Teach
8. Empower
9. Care – be in service to them

By having a clear understanding of how to best support others, you can let go of expectations, and make clear requests to each other so, the support that you give is welcomed, accepted, and improves performance.

Insight:

Expectations Create Breakdowns!

What is the difference between an expectation and a request?

• Expectation – you are hoping or anticipating something to happen with another person
• Clear Request – you are directly asking for something to happen with another person

Let go of expectations, and make clear requests about how you can support other people in being successful!

Leadership Challenge:

Be a quality leader this week to a colleague or family member by asking them how you could support them in being successful. Then support them and see the quality result that you create together.

A quality teacher designs learning environments and experiences that have an impact.

A Quality Learning Experience is any experience that:

• Shifts your mindset
• Causes you to see yourself in a new way
• Enables you to awaken another aspect of your Greatness
• Expands your capabilities and capacities to perform at a higher level

I have experienced many Quality Teachers – three of which had huge impacts on my life. They designed transformational learning experiences that shifted my mindset so I could see my Greatness.

As you read this, think to yourself: “Who are the Quality Teachers in my Life?”

 

My Quality Teachers

Jim Grieve

While in high school I had a part-time job working for Jim Grieve, Owner, and Manager of the local IGA grocery store. At 16 I made a bad decision and got charged for careless driving. I grew up in a small town where this experience made the local paper, so everyone knew about it.

One day after the incident Jim asked to meet with me privately. I thought for sure Jim was going to fire me because of the impact this would have on his reputation. I was wrong.

Jim asked me a simple, yet powerful question, “How can I support you in this experience? Can I help pay your legal bill?” I said no, “My Dad told me I had to pay the legal bill of $3,000.” Without hesitation, Jim said to me, “Eric, I just fired our janitor and I need someone to clean our floors nightly and I am willing to pay you $1,500/month for the next 3 months in addition to your part-time salary, are you interested?” I jumped at the opportunity. Jim’s extraordinary leadership and ability to be a Quality Teacher unlocked an aspect of my Greatness – Be accountable for your mistakes and move forward. Thanks, Jim, for being a Quality Teacher in my life!

 

Mike Murphy

When I was in University in the late 80s I was living with four guys and I was the house manager. As the house manager, one of my responsibilities was to find a new roommate for the coming school year.

One of the candidates I interviewed was Mike Murphy. I asked him, “Tell me what you did last summer for a job?”

Mike’s response to my question was, “Last summer I got a job tree planting in BC for two months. I made enough money to go to school this year, and took July and August off to ride my bicycle from Anchorage, Alaska, down the west coast of the U.S., across the Sierra Nevada Mountain range in California, down into Death Valley and on to Phoenix, Arizona where I flew back here to London, Ontario to go to school this year.”

I was in AWE and felt somewhat intimidated by the experience Mike had had! I thought, wow would I love to do a trip like that someday.

My expression must have said it all because, without a pause, Mike simply looked me in the eye and made this bold declaration, “Well, with that attitude Eric, I guess you’re not going to do much with your life!”

I was shocked by his boldness and frankness. I thanked him for meeting with me and I left annoyed by his statement.

His words impacted my soul so much that within four days I went home, sold my boat and car, and bought a bicycle. Within 6 weeks I had a job planting trees in BC and a plan to bike from Calgary to Vancouver and down the west coast of the U.S. to San Francisco. Thanks, Mike, for being a Quality Teacher in my life! Mike became our fifth roommate that following year.

 

Len Hill

Len Hill was one of my professors in University. One day Len came up to me and said, “Eric I really like your commitment to Geology and your work ethic and I am recommending you to the Dean of the Facility of Geology as one of ten students of the forty in your third-year class to write a 4^th year thesis, and I would like to be your advisor.”

I was shocked and honoured. In that moment of excitement, I said yes. When I got home that night, I panicked. I hated writing essays and I had just agreed to write a thesis!

Len saw part of my Greatness – my ability to challenge my comfort zone around writing and project management. I wrote a 76-page thesis and got an A-. This experience shifted my mindset and internal story around “I can’t express myself through quality writing”. I could and I did.

This new mindset was the catalyst for me to create my own Leadership coaching company and the inspiration for my book, “Design Your Life and Live It”. Thanks, Len, for believing in my potential and getting me to see it!

 

Your Leadership Learning Challenge:

Who has been a Quality Teacher in your life? Ponder the impact their teaching gave you and pay it forward by being a Quality Teacher to someone in your network. Get them to see their Greatness!

Over the last few weeks I have challenged myself to see the opportunity in all my experiences by utilizing the practices of the “Power of a Pause” (pausing my mind) and “Deep Listening” (listening to co-create) when I get emotionally triggered.

When I get emotionally triggered, I can feel the emotion of frustration and anger wanting to dominate my “Way of Being”. My natural way of being is to fight, but through the “Power of the Pause” I am learning to control my initial reactions and ask for support and really practice “Deep Listening” to hear what the other person is saying to me.

 

Here are 3 Key Insights from Deep Listening:

1. Complaints

Behind every complaint is a “Hidden Request”. Something is not working and someone is trying to communicate it.

Example: You stop by your VP of Operation’s office on a Friday afternoon to see how her week went and you ask a simple question, “How are you and the new VP of Finance making out on the roll out of the new invoicing process?”

The VP of Operations says to you, “I am struggling a lot this week with communicating with the new VP of Finance. She is very opinionated and has to be right all the time in our conversations! I am not looking forward to this coming week as we have a big deadline to meet and all I can think about is how she will want to control how my team and I implement this plan. You may be called in to referee some heated debates.”

What I heard – The hidden request was, “could you please support me in finding a way for me to connect with the new VP of Finance, because right now I am stuck!”

2. Vague

Vague = I don’t want to talk about it (the subject at hand).

Example: You stop by your Director of Maintenances’ office and asked him how his week went and his response was, “It was a good week!” You think to yourself, he has three large projects that he is working on and all he has to say to me is, “It was a good week”.

What I Heard – “Good” is a very vague response. What does good mean? When you inquire further by asking “What does good mean?” you will get the real story and the truth behind what’s working or not working. Being able to pause and really listen enables you to hear what’s below the surface.

3. Frustration/Irritation

Frustration/Irritation = the fringe, the edge of your comfort zone.

Example: This past week I was walking to an all-day leadership training session with one of my business partners. I was carrying my briefcase, computer bag, projector bag, course workbooks, and a flip chart. I became frustrated and irritated and asked myself, “Why am I carrying all of this stuff? Why is my partner not supporting me?”

What I Heard: My frustration is due to a lack of intentional time spent designing the logistics of the training session with my business partner. We did not have a conversation about how all the materials and equipment would get to the location and who would be responsible for the various items.

At this fringe, I came to realize that if I am going to take Awesome Journey to another level of contribution and impact in the world with our expertise, I need to be more intentional about “Designing” every detail of our offer with my teammates!

 

Your Leadership Challenge:

Practice the “Power of a Pause” and then listen for the opportunity in the experience you are having to see the gap or blind-spots in your capacity to lead effectively. Can you hear the “Hidden Request” that is underneath every complaint?